Part human comedy and part mystery, Lies the Mushroom Pickers Told is an enthralling, masterful story about what holds a village together and what keeps people apart. When journalist Patrick Bracken returns to Gohen, the Irish village where he was born, he knows the eyes of the townspeople are on him. He has come home to investigate two deaths that happened decades earlier when he was a child, deaths that were ruled accidental. But Patrick knows and believes the whole town knows they were murders. He knows because he and his best friend, Mikey Lamb, were witnesses.
And so Patrick goes to see eighty-year-old Sam Howard, the lawyer who conducted the inquest into the death of missionary priest Jarlath Coughlin. As he questions Sam and Sam's vibrant, loving, gossipy wife, Elsie, he seeks acknowledgment of a cover-up and an explanation of why the Protestant establishment would help conceal a crime among Catholics. During their give-and-take about this and the nearly simultaneous shotgun death of Lawrence Gorman (aka Doul Yank) what emerges from their collective memories are a pungent, wry portrait of village life in Ireland and a tangle of human relationships, some twisted and some that show our better side.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
Part human comedy and part mystery, Lies the Mushroom Pickers Told is an enthralling, masterful story about what holds a village together and what keeps people apart. When journalist Patrick Bracken returns to Gohen, the Irish village where he was born, he knows the eyes of the townspeople are on him. He has come home to investigate two deaths that happened decades earlier when he was a child, deaths that were ruled accidental. But Patrick knows and believes the whole town knows they were murders. He knows because he and his best friend, Mikey Lamb, were witnesses.
And so Patrick goes to see eighty-year-old Sam Howard, the lawyer who conducted the inquest into the death of missionary priest Jarlath Coughlin. As he questions Sam and Sam's vibrant, loving, gossipy wife, Elsie, he seeks acknowledgment of a cover-up and an explanation of why the Protestant establishment would help conceal a crime among Catholics. During their give-and-take about this and the nearly simultaneous shotgun death of Lawrence Gorman (aka Doul Yank) what emerges from their collective memories are a pungent, wry portrait of village life in Ireland and a tangle of human relationships, some twisted and some that show our better side.
Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.
Tom Phelan was born and raised on a farm in County Laois, Ireland. His first novel was published to critical acclaim when he was fifty. He is also the author of The Canal Bridge, lauded as "the best novel of love in the time of war since Cold Mountain" (Howard Frank Mosher) and "another First World War masterpiece (Irish Independent), as well as Iscariot, Derrycloney, and Nailer. He lives with his wife on Long Island, New York.
Witty . . . The bawdy humor and the plentiful details of the
farming lifestyle do much to enrich Phelan’s entertaining murder
mystery.”Publishers Weekly
Praise for The Canal Bridge:
Tom Phelan's The Canal Bridge is the best novel of love in the
time of war since Cold Mountain. It is an old-fashioned story in
the very best sense: dramatic, passionate, unpredictable,
gorgeously written, heartbreakingly true, ultimately ennobling.
This is truly a great book. I loved every page.” Howard Frank
Mosher, author of Walking to Gatlinburg
The Canal Bridge is a tour de force of writing, passionate,
moving, and brilliant. Here is World War I in all its madness, and
its terrible humanity.” Kevin Baker, author of The Big Crowd
There is no false bravado in Phelan’s riveting, unsparing account,
no sentimentality, no hollow heroes, no hyper-patriotic blather.
Phelan’s characters live and breathe and bleed. Phelan’s fiction is
the real thing. The Canal Bridge is a classic.” Peter Quinn,
author of The Banished Children of Eve and Dry Bones
Effectively constructed and emotionally honest . . . the reader
gains a new perspective on how the Great War decimated lives
throughout Europe.”
Booklist, starred review
Masterful . . . Must be ranked among the most successful novels
dealing with the First World War.” Irish Emigrant
Phelan is a marvelous storyteller. Don’t miss out on a great
contemporary author.” Irish Eyes (Paris)
Powerful and deeply affecting.” Books Ireland
Witty . . . The bawdy humor and the plentiful details of the
farming lifestyle do much to enrich Phelan’s entertaining murder
mystery.”Publishers Weekly
Praise for The Canal Bridge:
Tom Phelan's The Canal Bridge is the best novel of love in the
time of war since Cold Mountain. It is an old-fashioned story in
the very best sense: dramatic, passionate, unpredictable,
gorgeously written, heartbreakingly true, ultimately ennobling.
This is truly a great book. I loved every page.” Howard Frank
Mosher, author of Walking to Gatlinburg
The Canal Bridge is a tour de force of writing, passionate,
moving, and brilliant. Here is World War I in all its madness, and
its terrible humanity.” Kevin Baker, author of The Big Crowd
There is no false bravado in Phelan’s riveting, unsparing account,
no sentimentality, no hollow heroes, no hyper-patriotic blather.
Phelan’s characters live and breathe and bleed. Phelan’s fiction is
the real thing. The Canal Bridge is a classic.” Peter Quinn,
author of The Banished Children of Eve and Dry Bones
Effectively constructed and emotionally honest . . . the reader
gains a new perspective on how the Great War decimated lives
throughout Europe.”
Booklist, starred review
Masterful . . . Must be ranked among the most successful novels
dealing with the First World War.” Irish Emigrant
Phelan is a marvelous storyteller. Don’t miss out on a great
contemporary author.” Irish Eyes (Paris)
Powerful and deeply affecting.” Books Ireland
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